Ten thousand Yemeni patients die due to Saudi siege

Yemen’s Health Ministry says Saudi Arabia’s 2015-to-present aerial embargo against the impoverished country has led to the deaths of around 10,000 patients, who were prevented from travelling abroad for treatment.

Yemeni media quoted the ministry’s spokesman Abdul-Hakim al-Kuhlani as saying on Tuesday that the deaths were the result of the Saudi regime’s “continued aggression, siege and continued hostile restrictions on Sana’a International Airport.”

He said some 75,000 patients are estimated to be in need of seeking treatment abroad each year, slamming Riyadh and its allies for targeting Yemeni civilians and, at the same time, preventing those injured from leaving the country to receive treatment.

The Saudi-led coalition also blocks the entry of medicine into the country, now hit by a cholera spread, which has killed hundreds of people, said the official.